JOHAN MJALLBY reckons Celtic’s management team would have been looking for new jobs had the Hoops not staged their Rugby Park revival in October.

But now their sights are firmly set on lifting the SPL trophy after a title turnaround few would have predicted when Neil Lennon’s men trailed Kilmarnock 3-0 at half-time.

It looked grim for the Parkhead boss and his backroom team of Mjallby, Alan Thompson and Garry Parker after their side’s disastrous first-half display in Ayrshire.

However, Lennon rallied his troops during the half-time team talk and a double from Anthony Stokes and a Charlie Mulgrew header secured a 3-3 draw.

Lennon admitted he may have resigned had his side crashed to Killie and the Parkhead powerbrokers would also have discussed their manager’s situation.

The battling second-half performance gave him hope, though, and Celtic haven’t looked back since then. A fine run of form saw them chip away at Rangers’ lead – which once stood at 15 points – and the Hoops leapfrogged their rivals with a 1-0 derby win last week.

Assistant manager Mjallby is determined to keep that momentum going with a win at Dunfermline tomorrow and said: “The big turning point was the comeback at Killie.

“We were quite embarrassed at half-time. No disrespect to Kilmarnock but that wasn’t good enough for us. It was an important team talk from the manager and we had to find a way to get back in the game.

“Neil told the players we had to find a way to come off the pitch with at least a draw for our efforts and if we didn’t get that then we could have been looking for something else.

“When we had our poor spell and weren’t getting results there was no panic. But the players had to work harder for each other.”

Celtic’s domestic revival began after a 3-1 win over Rennes in the Europa League and Mjallby reckons the continental campaign helped them turn a corner.

He said: “Playing in Europe has been good for us – it has helped the players.

“It hasn’t been a distraction and we played well in all of the games apart from the group opener against Atletico Madrid when we showed them too much respect.”

It was youngster James Forrest who hauled Celts off the canvass at Rugby Park with an inspirational display.

And the 20-year-old winger – who has arguably been the best player in the SPL this term – is attracting attention from elsewhere.

Forrest has taken on the role vacated by Aiden McGeady following his £11million move to Spartak Moscow in 2010.

And Mjallby reckons the kid is every bit as important to the team as McGeady was.

He said: “James is wonderful. He is the type of player you seldom see. He probably doesn’t have the same amount of tricks as Aiden but is more direct. Aiden was maybe more about trying to beat his man but James can take the defender on or cut inside and pass.

“He is like an old-fashioned winger. James can play on either flank and is so quick over the first few yards.

“Arguably he has been our best player this season and has taken his game to another level. We are so pleased with James and he is a great guy to have. He will be important in the second half of the season.

“James was also important last week against Rangers. We wanted to get him on the ball as often as possible and we didn’t do that quickly enough in the first half.

“He is so explosive and we have to be careful with him. We don’t want him getting any injuries so we will protect him.

“Clubs are being linked with James but we want to keep him. To win trophies you need to keep your best players.”

Mjallby now wants to make sure Celtic don’t drop any careless points and let Rangers get back to the top .

The Hoops followed up their two Old Firm wins last term with a draw at Hamilton and a defeat at Motherwell.

They can’t afford a repeat against the Pars tomorrow and Mjallby said: “It’s vital we don’t slip up. The Dunfermline game is as important as the Old Firm match.

“We are top and this big turnaround should give the lads great encouragement. They’ve been working hard the past two months and know if they don’t continue to do that then it could be taken away from them.

“We have the experience of what happened last season as well. We are now the favourites so the pressure is on.

“We have had four clean sheets in our last five games. We’ve had injuries at the back and it hasn’t been easy. But the boys have worked hard and we’ve been defending well.